A few years back when my wife and I were living in Toronto there was a Propctor and Gamble sale at the International Trade Centre at which time we went and bought a bunch of bulk products while they were on sale (dish soap, tooth paste, laundry soap, toilet paper, etc)... and from there it turned into buying bulk from the grocery stores when things were on sale and we still do ... more recently we have started canning fruits and veggies from our garden as well as the grocery store. This has just slowly progressed to the point were we would be self sufficent for quite a few months if TSHTF.

So now comes the reason for this post.... I would like to know What are your reasons for / How did you get into prepping?

I think your story may also true for many people. It makes sense to store some goods especially if you save money by doing this. From there it progresses and eventually you realize that you could manage for quite some time if something terrible happened. However I also think that people that start this way probably have a strong self-reliant mindset. I have been prepping so long I can't remember any particular reason why I started, I think I have always done it. Nearly everyone will have a different reason with possibly a common theme of taking care of their family. There should be some interesting posts, this is a good question to ask crankybull.

Back in the early eighties, when I was in college, I came across a book. I don't remember the authors name or even how I came across the book. I do remember the title though, We Are the Earthquake Generation. I know the author was a geologist and the book was about the authors research and corollation between earthquakes and predictions made by Edgar Cayce. That got me started.My reasons for continuing are different nowadays but I'm no less serious about it now than I was back then. In fact, I would have to say that I'm far more serious about prepping now than I was then. At that time I didn't have a family, now it's mostly about them.

0 x

In the end, your life will flash before your eyes.Make sure it's worth watching.

In 1989, the eastern region got hit with a huge ice storm. Trees were down all over the street, public transit was non-existant in the city, and the power was out for several days. I must admit that I got caught with my pants down. Next to no food on hand, a couple candles, and no radio or anything like that. I promised myself never to be in that situation again. People were leaving refidgerated foods out on their balconies and those that could be reached from the ground lost it all to thieves. I must admit that I was not living in the best area of town either, and it really opened my eyes as to how fast society will degrade when the stores are empty and closed. There was no money to be gotten from the bank machines, no gas being pumped, and if you were lucky enough to find some candles at the local corner store, they were selling for $2.00 a piece, up from .25 just a week earlier! My only saving grace was my gas space heater in the apartment that didn't rely on electricity. There were people dying from using propane BBQ's for heat indoors, and crime went through the roof, as those homes that had alarm systems were now vulnerable. This taught me not only to have supplies on hand, but that the city was no place to be during a crisis. True, the power was out for longer in the rural areas, but I honestly think that it is much safer out here in the sticks. And if I do need to put food outside in a snow bank, at least I know that I only have to worry about 4 legged looters!It wasn't really hard to make the transition to being a prepper, although I only found out about the mindset and these types of groups about 2 years ago. I simply looked back at how my parents did things when I grew up...gardening, canning, that kind of thing. I asked my parents how things were done when they were young...how my grandparents got by. It was eye opening just how far away from self reliance we have become in just two generations! I know that finding people who lived through the depression is getting more and more difficult, but at least you should be able to find people who were taught by the depression survivors. My mother can remember her father bringing home deer from hunting and my grandmother butchering it in the country kitchen and pressure canning it, not for emergency food, but just to live off day to day. I truly believe that the less one relies on modern conveniences such as weekly (or in some cases daily) trips to the grocery store, or 24/7 access to money from bank machines, the less affected they will be when these things simply aren't there anymore!

Yoyu raised one good point that some people fail to understand or think of in a breakdown situation. Wintertime, if the power is out, food can go out in the snow or put snow/ice in a pot and put it in the fridge. in summer time it is good to have an RV type fridge that works on propane, or drape a metal food box with a wet cloth (keep bottom of cloth in a bowl/pot of water), the evaporation will keep food a little cooler.

It's funny that you mentioned the ice storm... well maybe not funny but my wife was living in Montreal at that time and she lost her hydro for quite a few days (says she enjoyed it...lol). It also reminded me of the big blackout of 2003... I sure wish I had of been more prepared for that!

I sometimes feel like the odd one out on this but I was just raised this way, My folks and grandparetns just lived what would "now" be considered a prepper lifestyle, Grandparents just called it life, folks called it back to the land living, add in the fact that my hubby and l lived in canadian artic for years including in fly in and fly out zones where you were using the sealift to bring in a full years worth of food in one shot and when we moved down and got the farm, we just kept going from there..

ranger2012 wrote:Yoyu raised one good point that some people fail to understand or think of in a breakdown situation. Wintertime, if the power is out, food can go out in the snow or put snow/ice in a pot and put it in the fridge. in summer time it is good to have an RV type fridge that works on propane, or drape a metal food box with a wet cloth (keep bottom of cloth in a bowl/pot of water), the evaporation will keep food a little cooler.

During the ice storm, I froze 2l coke bottles in a snow bank and rotated them into my fridge. I didn't want to put any food on my 1st floor balcony, as food theft from balconies was rampant in my area.

farmgal wrote:I sometimes feel like the odd one out on this but I was just raised this way, My folks and grandparetns just lived what would "now" be considered a prepper lifestyle, Grandparents just called it life, folks called it back to the land living,

Same here, it was just the way I was raised. My grandparents had a farm and you learned at a young age that if you did not can, dry or pickle everything that you could then you did without. It wasn't until I found this place that I found out there were others like me